GEN's Cryptogram Challenge Solved

Two scientists from Canada have figured out the answer to the Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News Cryptogram Challenge. Adrienne Halupa, Ph.D., serves as project manager/research associate in the department of chemistry at the University of Toronto. Stephen Ross works as senior software developer at Toronto-based Devlin eBusiness Architects.

GEN, along with partner, Scintellix, and sponsor, Invitrogen, part of Life Technologies, congratulate Dr. Halupa and Ross on cracking the code embedded in the 96-well plate image.

In addition to being a co-winner of the $1,500 award, Dr. Halupa chose a second prize that was offered: one of three bench-top devices from Invitrogen. She selected the Neon™ transfection system for transfecting DNA and siRNA into any animal cell type.

“I think it’s the best option for our type of work,” said Dr. Halupa.

The answer to the Challenge was a statement by the famous Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw that “No question is so difficult to answer as that to which the answer is obvious.”

Peter C. Johnson, M.D., artist, and president and CEO of Scintellix, created the Cryptogram Challenge and said he “chose this statement for its ironic value in the context of a cryptogram.”

Embedded Cipher

For the Challenge, Dr. Johnson embedded a cipher (algorithm for performing encryption and decryption) based on the cells in a standard ELISA plate.

“In this first edition of the Cryptogram Challenge, a follow on to last year’s ‘MicroArray Challenge’, I wanted to, once again, highlight the magnitude of information that is buried in biological imagery,” explained Dr. Johnson. “As experimentalists, we always try to reduce test variable and potential interpretations to the simplest form possible. The ELISA Cryptogram Challenge reveals that even when we do so, the potential for multiple interpretations remains.

“In the ELISA Cryptogram Challenge, I used a singlet code (each letter coded for by a single type of cell) but enhanced the difficulty by coding using a combination of specific RGB (red, blue green) intensities and also by requiring that letters and punctuation marks be designated within specific degrees of transparency. Once the transparency grouping was understood, the length of the statement lent itself to a solution using a standard frequency analysis. This is why the clues were given in their specific order. I congratulate the winners on their rapid solution.”

The Cryptogram Challenge is the first in a series of puzzles that will appear in GEN that will leverage the information represented in multiple types of biological experimentation readouts.

“Subsequent challenges will grow in difficulty and will be used to continue to highlight the enormous amount of information that we need to filter from our experiments in order to derive correct conclusions,” continued Dr. Johnson. “In this example of a multicolored ELISA plate, the visual beauty of our experiments can also be seen.”

Jobs

GEN Jobs powered by HireLifeScience.com connects you directly to employers in pharma, biotech, and the life sciences. View 40 to 50 fresh job postings daily or search for employment opportunities including those in R&D, clinical research, QA/QC, biomanufacturing, and regulatory affairs.

If you have any questions about your subscription, click
hereto email us or call at (914) 740-2189.

You may also be interested in subscribing to the GEN magazine, an indispensable
resource for everyone involved in the business of translating discoveries at the
bench into solutions that fight disease and improve health, agriculture, and the
environment. Subscribe
today to see why over 60,000 biotech professionals read GEN to
keep current in the areas of genomics, proteomics, drug discovery, biomarker discovery,
bioprocessing, molecular diagnostics, collaborations, biotech business trends, and
more.